To Get Involved, or for More Information:

Please call the NAMI-GC office at (312) 563-0445.

 

The Need:

 

The National Co-Morbidity Replication Study published in 2005 determined that the vast majority of serious mental illnesses have their onset prior to the age of 14.  Furthermore, the study found that the delay in obtaining effective treatment was often more than 10 years, and, as Dr. Thomas Insel, Director of NIMH stated, “…mental disorders are the chronic disorders of the young.”  College students are at the age and time in their life where they are particularly vulnerable to both the onset of a serious mental illness and to not receiving proper treatment. 

The project being developed by NAMI of Greater Chicago is designed to develop strong administrative and peer inter- and intra-collegiate support networks for Chicago area college campuses to enhance students’ and administrators’ understanding of and commitment to providing assistance for those affected by serious mental illness.   Our goal is that the program(s) we are developing and fostering will become self-sustaining and will continue to grow for years to come.

 

NAMI Chicago College Outreach Program (NCCOP)

 

          The NAMI Chicago College Outreach Program (NCCOP) is NAMI of Greater Chicago’s staff, members, and volunteers—including consumers of mental health services, their families, healthcare providers, and current college students—working together to improve the support, information, referral-access, and education available to Chicago-area college and university students regarding mental illness.

 

Background

 

Early in 2005, NAMI of Greater Chicago convened a group of its young professional members with the agenda of identifying and addressing one or more unfulfilled mental health needs in the Chicago community.  Many group members were young, current, or recent college students.  Because many serious mental illnesses show up during the formative, college-age years, the group determined that the mental health needs of college students was the area they wanted to address.  NAMI of Greater Chicago had not previously addressed this need and administrative approval for the development of this project was immediately granted.

            Further justification for a project directed toward the college-age group came in June/July of 2004 when the findings of the Fleishman Hillard International Communications survey of 1,026 college students conducted for the NAMI National organization and Abbott Laboratories found that one-third of college students reported symptoms of serious mental illness. 

               

Initial Activities

 

A 2005 summer-intern, an undergraduate college student, assisted in developing the initial efforts of NCCOP, which were focused on determining what campuses needed/wanted/could utilize by way of input/assistance from NAMI of Greater Chicago.  Directing activities toward the 5 largest Chicago-area universities—DePaul, Loyola, Northwestern, University of Chicago, and University of Illinois at Chicago—NAMI of Greater Chicago developed connections with administrators, mental health professionals, RAs, staff, and interested students at these schools.  With the involvement of campus mental health provider staff, the outreach efforts included:

·        Assessing the current needs of the 5 colleges

·        Ensuring that each college was aware of NAMI of Greater Chicago’s information, referral, education, and support services

·        Developing presentations, brochures, and information packets for college health fairs and activities fairs

·        Inviting college campus security to participate in NAMI of Greater Chicago’s and the Chicago Police Department’s Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) Trainings to instruct campus security on how to better handle mental health crises

 

NCCOP - Update

 

            On Monday, April 16 th, 2007, at a previously scheduled meeting, interested NAMI of Greater Chicago staff, members, and volunteers met with newly-hired Project Director, Isabelle Burtan, to discuss the past successes of and potential improvements to the campus outreach intiative.  The neutral, welcoming name: the NAMI Chicago College Outreach Program (NCCOP) was coined and adopted.  The Virginia Tech tragedy, which occurred on the morning of this meeting, brought to the forefront the importance of addressing these problems decisively, efficiently, and powerfully.

 

Problems to address

               

          The group, which included current Chicago-area college students, identified that barriers which prevent college students from full awareness of their college and community mental health resources and options are related to a number of factors, including:

 

NCCOP’s Revamped Initiatives

 

          The NCCOP group decided to address these concerns by honing the following previously developed initiatives:

·        Reconnecting with the 5 Chicago-area college contacts and opening up the program to all interested Chicago-area schools

·        Actively using the program as a base to allow college contacts to meet and discuss their concerns with one another, relaying information about the resources available at each school

·        Continuing past development of presentations and print materials to present at health fairs, activities fairs, or to interested groups of persons at all Chicago-area colleges

 

NCCOP’s New Initiatives

 

          The NCCOP group also decided that what’s been done has not been enough.  The following new initiatives were developed:

·        Creating a centralized, external, comprehensive Chicago-area resource website for college students

·        Crafting a unified training program and network of empathetic and educated peer-counselors at Chicago colleges to unify and ensure consistent access to student-led and -run support programs

·        Offering NAMI of Greater Chicago services to help support the creation or continued running of independent student-run mental health groups on campus

 

NCCOP’s Cooperation with Campuses

 

          All NCCOP initiatives are designed to allow interested student and professional volunteers the opportunity to enrich and cooperate with existing college mental health services.  The goal of the group is to support the use of existing college and community mental health services and, whenever possible, to relieve the pressure on staff at college mental health services. Furthermore, the group intends to improve Chicago-area mental health support services for college students by collaboratively developing initiatives that:

·        Augment the awareness and use of existing college and community services

·        Decrease the stigma surrounding mental illnesses and treatment for these illnesses

·        Improve and increase positive student perception of the mental health resources available on campus and in their local community

·        Increase the consistency of care between Chicago-area colleges

·        Encourage student-leadership and peer-support of mental well-being.